Many empires have risen and fallen over the course of recorded history. All
were created by force. Yet all have tried to legitimize that force, by passing
laws and seeking to establish some sort of order that would outlive their military
supremacy. Some have been more successful at this than others; by way of example,
the legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte’s legal
code is still alive today, in much of Europe and its former colonies, though
the little Corsican’s empire was decisively defeated nearly two centuries ago.

The Atlantic
Empire, on the other hand, is the only example in history of an imperial
enterprise destroying its own laws, undermining its own legitimacy in
pursuit of power.

Scrambling the Nest Eggs

The European Union is often seen as distinctive from, perhaps even a rival
to, the Atlantic Empire. This is a useful pretense for the ruling circles of
both entities. In actuality, the EU is entirely subordinate to the U.S. in military
and foreign policy matters, resembling a client "state" more than
anything else. Economic policies of both are in the hands of big bankers, not
the electorates that have long since ceased to matter.

This is why what
just happened in Cyprus stands to have profound consequences. After several
weeks of extortion, bullying and much media spin, the Cypriot government has
agreed to "tax" the Cypriot depositors in exchange for an EU/IMF "bailout"
loan to keep its banks afloat. But while the Cypriots couldn’t access their
money due to ATM limits and bank closures, branches in the UK and Russia worked
just fine, and many foreigners were able to avoid being pillaged.

Though the mainstream media claims the "bailout" was "helping"
Cyprus, it is blindingly obvious that it did nothing of the sort. Rather, it
was a massive criminal
conspiracy to defraud the general public and cover the gambling losses of
big bankers and speculators.

In doing so, a message was sent throughout the West: your money is not yours,
it’s not safe, and the rules no longer apply. The nest
egg has been scrambled, so to speak. As one
pundit wrote, "In only a few weeks central Europe’s pompous and blundering
managerial idiots have managed to undermine the most valuable asset Western
banking had in its favor—depositor confidence. They will never again regain
such esteem."

A Global Balkans

What the Cyprus "bailout" has done for banking and depositor confidence,
the Balkans interventions over the past two decades has done for international
law. In both cases, though, the ramifications have yet to be fully recognized.

The War of Yugoslav Succession (1991-95) was used to suborn the United Nations,
trapping it into an impossible mission then denouncing its peacekeepers as "ineffective",
until the UN mission was literally taken over by
NATO in 1995. Four years later, NATO openly
attacked the leftover Yugoslavia, dismissing even the need for UN approval.

Because that war had not gone as planned, part of the armistice was a UN resolution
(UNSCR 1244). By regulating the NATO occupation of Serbia’s Kosovo province
and guaranteeing the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia, the resolution threatened
the separatist plans of the Albanian terrorist KLA, on
behalf of which NATO had invaded. So the Empire has done everything it could
to bypass
that resolution ever since. In 2008, it backed the Albanian provisional
government’s declaration of Kosovo’s "independence". When this was
challenged before the International Court of Justice, the ICJ tortured
logic and law to declare the act "not illegal," though it clearly
was.

The Empire-installed government in Belgrade then shifted
the "negotiations" over Kosovo to the Empire-allied EU. Officially
the EU was "status neutral", even though most of its members had recognized
the breakaway territory as independent. One of the many rumors – as no facts
are forthcoming – about the current
"talks" between the EU and the regime in Belgrade, is that Brussels
will insist on Serbia proposing a new UN resolution to replace 1244, thus removing
any obstacles to "Kosovian" independence.

The 2010 ICJ decision was a travesty on par with the average
ICTY verdict. Not at all coincidentally, the ICTY – and its younger cousin,
the ICC – have been yet another tool for replacing law with lawfare.

By the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the pattern
had been well established. It was hardly surprising that the 2011 attack
on Libya was a pure mockery of the UN, as the limited "No-fly zone"
resolution was immediately used as a license for unrestricted warfare aimed
at "regime change." The Brezhnev Doctrine at least limited itself
to the Soviet sphere; by contrast, Clinton, Bush II and Obama have claimed
the world.

Mission Impossible

Not surprisingly, Imperial lawlessness gets replicated by client and quisling
regimes. Seeking to please Washington and Brussels, both the current government
of Serbia and its predecessor have repeatedly trampled the country’s Constitution.
In fact, ever since the October 2000 coup, whenever laws got in the way of obeying
Imperial dictates, the laws
would lose. That hasn’t bothered the Empire in the slightest, until its
own ox got gored.

Serbia’s quislings recently came under
fire by Imperial pundits for selective law enforcement. Back in December
2012, the government arrested a tycoon close to the formerly ruling Democratic
Party, on charges of corruption. Whether there was anything to the charges was
rather immaterial: the cabinet needed a high-profile case as smokescreen for
its betrayal of Kosovo. Apparently, the oligarch in question was some sort of
Imperial asset, so his continued detention angered the wrong people in Washington.
Even when trying to serve their Imperial masters, the quislings can
do no right – what with being Serbs and all, if only by name.

All the Emperor’s Men

The Empire continues to give lip service to the forms of law, but has
no qualms about perverting its contents in pursuit of power. It has done
so at home. It has done so internationally. But by doing so, it has made its
dominion less likely to last, not more.

Already, Washington is trying to delegate some of Empire’s work to select clients.
But whether it is France in Mali, or Germany in the Balkans, or Turkey in the
Balkans and the Middle East, the clients have their own agendas, their own interests,
and their own history.

The Balkans interventions were used by Germany to ditch its historical baggage.
Less than sixty years after bombing Belgrade, the Luftwaffe was doing
it again. Yet while proving entirely willing to terrorize peaceful civilians
with tanks, when the going got tough, the Germans
got going. And while the leftist-environmentalist German cabinet eagerly
embraced war, the conservatives seem more cautious – an approach that irks some
German media.

Turkey, another former Balkans hegemon, has openly
declared its desire to bring back the Ottoman times. It appears it has Washington’s
blessing: just the other day, the Washington Postgushed
about Turkey’s "gentle" comeback in Bosnia. Ankara also has designs
on the Middle East, currently playing a major role in the U.S.-organized
arming of the Syrian rebels.

Yet for all their power and might, the Ottomans and the Germans – Hapsburgs,
Hohenzollerns and Hitler alike – were eventually driven out of the Balkans.
Perhaps the Atlantic Empire believes that this time it will be different; that
there will be no resistance; that the people designated for the yoke will agree
to be, and stay, conquered.

Last week my Turkish Cypriot newsagent was scratching his head in bewilderment asking “Don't they realise that they have undermined people's confidence in banks everywhere?”, and this seems to be a universal sentiment. Another casualty is 'law', but I don't understand enough of previous Empires to judge whether this is a unique characteristic.
Chris Hedges, who spent months living under the bombs while working as a NYT correspondent maintains that the '91-'95 war had little to do with ethnic tensions, but rather was the result of a collapsed economy which gave rise to the criminal cartels taking over. Once the official economy had gone the only money still in circulation was theirs. Loretta Napoleoni has reported for example that youth unemployment in Kosovo rocketed to 70% and people flocked into the ranks of the KLA, an organisation flush with money from the heroin smuggling along the Balkan route.
Would the author also agree that this is a fair assessment of what happened?
The notable change to have occurred twenty years down the road to self destruction, and visible to all is that the major banks are now joined at the hip to these criminal cartels, as the HSBC scandal clearly shows. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibbl…
Another question I have regarding this otherwise lucid account is why Israel is overlooked as a junior partner fulfilling exactly the same role as those others (Turkey, Germany, France) mentioned here? Columnists on Antiwar seem to suffer a blind spot regarding this particular nation state, seeing it ever as an albatross around the boss man's neck while consistently ignoring its functionality.

US de facto bankruptcy and EU general impotence (and spreading, mimetic bankruptcy) require "volunteer" subcontractors to control various areas where the imperial core can't provide more than kinetic shoves, drone-based "law" enforcement and eye-in-the-sky supervision. Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Turkey – all relatively powerful and strategically placed – are barked at to "share the burden". Some, blinded by fresh hubris, believe there's room for the "glory" of yore. Turkey, abandoning the anti-ottoman Kemalist inheritance seems lured by this song. Kemal's revolution served the West then and facilitated the transfer of the lasts chunks of the Ottoman empire to other colonial powers of the time. Now, the Ottoman nostalgic new policy serves the dying West's whims again. But it won't be long until the younger wolves will sense the weakness of their decrepit pack leader. Of course, if the Turks embark in a new imperial adventure developments might prove interesting. Especially for the old EU hag future.

The penultimate paragraph shows the fear and dread of the EU which is the underlying motive of all these articles. Clearly, the last thing the neocons want is to see Serbia in the EU! That may explain why practically nobody in Serbia opposes EU membership. EU membership gives small Member States tremendous protection inasmuch as an attack on one Member State inevitably, by virtue of the very structure of the Union, brings the attacker into conflict with the whole EU, now the world’s largest economy. Example: the attack on Greece, which I suspect was neocon-inspired. If Greece went under, everybody would have gone under. So Greece couldn’t be let go under. Example: before EU membership, Ireland was effectively shackled to Britain economically and had little choice but to bow to faits accomplis from London. Now, the British media howled and screeched about the euro, but Ireland didn’t have to knuckle under. That must make the EU look very attractive to many Serbs.

Oh yeah! EU membership is not only "very attractive" to Serbs but they are enthralled with it. This one is only the "second" MK, I'm still awaiting for # 1. Mr. Malic wrote such a good essay that they need more time to respond. I'm afraid I'll have to notify your bosses that you're doing a lousy job.

I ask before and ask again. What are credentials of young Malic as academic "historian"? This is basic information but no editor here and not even Malic can give us this token of respect. Yes, I know some of you love his writings, but do you wonder who he his? Maybe you already know answer: Ko to kaže…

What he is writing is who he is! I do not understand your despicable attempt to discredit Mr. Malic. He appears here with his full name and his, by my opinion, very competent analysis. What else do you need?

Credentials ………??? CREDENTIALS……………!!!!!!! He don't need no stinkin credentials………. His writings are his credentials……….. He is who writes these articles…… The fact that seldom ever does anyone one challenges him on his historical narrative is his accreditation….. The cries of foul by his critics like MichaelKenny are content empty moans, devoid of substance……..

Interesting " practically nobody in Serbia opposes EU membership"
I a sorry where did you get that .Evan pro Empire .BBC ,CNN poltroons in Serbia are saying and admitting that 45% don't want to be a part of those who bomb them???
I am impressed this spin my friend Kenny is worth of Soviet era Star of Freedom..I sound like CNN but … not too close.
Ask Bulgarians what they think about German III Reich ! I guess old allies are again together :)
and BTW " very attractive to many Serbs. " attractive to what ?…since Romanians and other less worth can't go to Germany and Holland to take those highly paid jobs..right !

this latest charade about Serbia not signing the "agreement" was cooked up in the kitchen of some of the acronyms. At first, the government of Serbia appears to be courageous not to sign – in order to stay in power – but then they will sign it for the "better future". Please write about it.

Isn't it amazing how well they hid what's in the "plan", "agreement", or whatever…?

Nebojsa Malic left his home in Bosnia after the Dayton Accords and currently resides in the United States. During the Bosnian War he had exposure to diplomatic and media affairs in Sarajevo. As a historian who specializes in international relations and the Balkans, Malic has written numerous essays on the Kosovo War, Bosnia, and Serbian politics. His exclusive column for Antiwar.com debuted in November 2000.